Fanny e



(No Model.)

P. E. HALL.

PORTABLE KILN FOR FIRING DEGORATED GHINLGLASS, &c. No. 397,642. Patented Feb. 12, 1889.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

FANNY E. HALL, OF CATSKILL, NE\V YORK.

PORTABLE KILN FOR FIRING DECORATED CHlNA, GLASS, 84,0.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,642, dated February 12, 1889, Application filed September 12, 1888. SerialNo. 285,194. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FANNY E. HALL, of Catskill; in the county of Greene and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Kilns adapted to the Firing of Decorated China, Glass, and Bisque \Vare, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

The object of my invention to provide a portable furnace that may be conveniently used indoors, and one in which coke or like fuel may be used in connection with gas; and to this end it consists in a portable kiln having in the eombust-ioil-chamber a pot-support and a space below the grate for the reception of a supplemental stove or gas burner; and it further consists in details of the several parts making up the structure as a whole, and in their combination, as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a top view of one form of my improved kiln with the pot-support removed, showing the seetional grate. Fig. 2 is a View in central vertical section through the kiln.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter A denotes the furnace-base, that consists, preferably, of a single casting of suitable mate rial, as iron, with the flanged shelf a at its upper part and wit-h lugs a properly disposed around the bottom of the base for the reception of bolts, by means of which the base is secured to the center of the shallow vessel that forms the hearth B, and extends preferably some little distance beyond the side walls of the furnace. On the annular shelf a are supported a number of removable rings, C, that are eachcomposed of a number of sections of suitable material, as fire-brick, or of asbestus mixed with clay, or of any other non-combustibleor non-conducting material of a refractory nature. These rings may bemade in sections, as illustrated in the drawings, or in a single piece, the iron band 0 surround- 1 ing each ring being held by a clamping-bolt, c, to give strength to the ring. The furnacebase is made preferably with a cylindrical lower part, E, above which the walls flare out ward toward the shelf (1, that forms the outer limit of the base and supports the rings 0. \Vithin this narrower portion of the base there is located a sectional grate, D, suitably supported on lugs that maybe east integral with the furnacewall. This grate D is made in three or more sections, the central section, (I, being supported on the lugs (l, formed on the other grate-sections, and narrow enough to allow it to be pulled directly forward through the door 6 in the furnace-wall. As soon as this central section is removed, the side sections may be pulled out, allowing the mass of coals or the ashes above the grate to be dumped into the lower part of the furnace, from which they maybe readily raked out onto the hearth.

Above the grate D there is a pot-support, F, made in the form of a grate, as shown, or else composed of metallic tubes extending through and through the walls of the furnace and made hollow, in order that they may not be heated to a degree sufficient to cause them to bend under the weight of the firing-pot G- and its contents. A cover, g, is provided for the iii-ingpot, and from the cover a tube, 9,

extends out through the cover H of the fur-' nace for the outlet of vapor or gas from within the fire-pot. This furnace-cover II has an outlet, 71, and, if required, a pipe may be led from this outlet to a chimney. A gas or oil stove, I, is fitted within the chamber in the furnace below the grate D, and the flames therefrom extend up through the mass of coke K and create and maintain a thorough combustion of the latter.

The method of'usin my improved furnace is as follows: The iron base is set up in any place convenient for the purpose of firing. The lower grate, D, is put in place, then the coke or like fuel, placed on the grate, and the pot-support then inserted and one or more rings, 0, placed on the shelf a. The firing-pot is filled with the decorated. ware to be fired and placed within the kiln on the center of the support.

Connelsvllle coke, prepared chemical. fuel, or other combustible matter of equal purity (preferably such as possesses the property of burning without smoke) is used to fill the space between the grate and the pot-support,

and also between the side walls of the furnace and the firing-pot. A gas-stove of ordinary construction is inserted through the door of the furnace below the grate, and this stove is attached by a proper tubing to a source of gas-supply, as to the gas-fixture in any ordinary room. The stove is lighted and the fire kindled thoroughly under and about the firing pot, when the other rings of firebrick may be added to complete the kiln and the fuel piled within them to the height of the pot or above it. The cover l'I may then be placed upon the kiln and the fire maintained until the ware is suitably fired. The proper time for the firing having elapsed, the stove is removed from the furnace, the several sections of the grate are removed by means of a poker, through the door in the wall of the furnace, and the mass of coals will then drop, so as to be readily raked out onto the hearth, where they are left to cool, or from which they can be scraped into any convenient receptacle. The kiln and the firing-pot are allowed to cool by degrees, and the ware is then removed, and another firing may be had as soon as desired.

The rings of fire-brick or like refractory material are arranged in any number and are of suitable dimension in relation to the size of the firing-pot, so that they may be built up to the height of the pot and far enough above it to secure a fire-space of not less than about two inches above the lid of the pot. In case a very small firing-pot is used for special firings needed in many in stances rin of a small diameter may be arranged with the lower ring resting directl y upon the lower grate-support of the f urnace within the iron walls of its cylinder'and the fire be thus contracted within the limits suited to the requirements of a small pot. The firing can then be carried on with a desirable saving of time and fuel. At the conclusion of a firing conducted after this method the firing-pot is lifted out of the kiln by means of an implement provided for the purpose, the coals being withdrawn in the manner described.

The peculiar feature of my invention resides in the employment of a constant source of heat-supply, as a gas-stove, in connection with a fuel that of itself will not readily kindle and serve the purpose of a handy fuel; but when. once lighted it will maintain a very great and uniform degree of heat in combustion, although other advantages result from the peculiar construction of the furnace-base and the arrangement of the hearth in relation to the furnace that particularly adapts the kiln for use indoors.

I claim as my invention 1. In combination, in a portable ceramic kiln, the sectional furnace-grate having gratesupports, with draft-chamber below the lower grate, the hearth underlying and extending beyond the furi'iace-walls, the pot-support, and the furnace-walls of refractory material arranged in a series of sections vertically, all substantially as described. I

2. In a port-able ceramic kiln, in combination, the furnace-base having the removable sectional grate, with the center section narrower than the door of the furnace, the firingpot support, the shelf supporting the refractory walls, the saidv walls made in sections vertically, and the hearth underlying and extending beyond the furnace-walls, all substantially as described. 7

3. In a portable ceramic kiln, in combina tion, the hearth, the furnace-base, with a draft chamber below the grate, the grate for sup porting the fuel, the pot-support, and the fur= nace-Walls made in sections vertically, all substantially as described.

FANNY E. HALL.

Witnesses:

A. B. JENKINS, CHAS. L. BURDETT. 

